


The Time is...

by Tridraconeus



Category: The Batman (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen, julie/edward if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 09:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1683242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tridraconeus/pseuds/Tridraconeus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard to get ready for a social function. Said social function is hard, too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time is...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thethrillof](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thethrillof/gifts).



> I never meant to ship this, and I blame twistedmidnightdreams entirely. It's set before Julie and Edward have their falling-out, at a company ball.

The time was 4:30, and Edward was just getting off of work. He hung up his labcoat with a sense of accomplishment and turned to his lab partner, Julie, and noted how she was still cleaning up her station. He moved over to her side and helped dismantle an intimidating-looking machine.  
"Are you going to the company ball tonight?" Edward asked hesitantly. He had started chewing on his lip, a habit from when he was younger and always anxious. Julie hums. "Of course. Gorman would be upset if his star scientists were no-shows."  
Edward huffed and flicked his hand in irritation. "This isn't about Gorman, Julie, this is about spending time with people from other divisions- and not being cooped up down here in the basement."  
He didn’t sound bitter about their cramped working arrangement, not at all, and he could catch the beginnings of a smile creeping along Julie's face. In the dim lighting it didn’t look like much, but Edward stared for a few seconds anyways.  
“I know you don’t like Gorman, Eddie, but you still need to act like a mature adult,” Julie replied. She gently patted his shoulder. “He may be a creep, but he’s a powerful creep.”  
Edward huffed.  
"Well then, go get yourself cleaned up. I'll see you at seven." She told him, and this time she smiled at him. Edward nodded and left, resisting the urge to whistle.

The time was 5:00, and Edward was looking frantically through his closet for his suit. Of course it was nowhere to be found, because he really needed it and he should have laid it out the night before. Awful images of him standing in the middle of the ball wearing his work clothes popped to the forefront of his mind and Edward growled, bodily wrenching a tee-shirt from the messy drawer. There! At the bottom. He gratefully drew out the wrinkled suit. It looked as if it would still fit, although it would of course be a bit loose around the waist and ankles. A tall man like Edward did not find suits that fit easily.  
He couldn’t help but search for a few more minutes to find something that would fit him better, but when he emerged from his pile of clothes empty-handed he admitted defeat and cast an irritated look towards his rumpled suit.  
When he tried it on, it hung miserably off his frame. He'd have to get it pressed at the very least so he didn't show up looking like he slept in the suit.

The time was 5:10, and Edward was waiting in line at the laundromat to wash the suit. He's pulled aside by a friendly lady who offered to help him iron the clothes since they look and smell clean to her, and he thankfully agrees. She took him through the motions before amusedly finishing the job for him. When she's done, she went to her dryer and pulled out so many clothes Edward wondered how they all fit.  
Of course, he offered to help her fold them. She'd done so much for him, after all.

The time was 5:30, and Edward was climbing from the shower. Despite the fact that the water was ice-cold for at least three quarters of his time spent in there, he felt clean. With a few haphazard strokes of a brush through his hair, he turned to his suit. Time to start wrangling with it. Although, his room certainly was a mess. Cleaning it up a bit wouldn’t hurt. 

The time was 6:30, and Edward had no idea where the time went. He tugged on the suit, awkwardly buttoning the myriad buttons and fastening ties. The clothes were now stiff on him and he felt like an overdressed penguin, but he looked... He looked handsome, at least in the mirror. With a hair tie to pull his hair into something resembling a ponytail, glad that it had finally dried, he looked one more time into the mirror before leaving the house.

The time was 6:50 and Edward waited outside the doors awkwardly, hoping some kind soul would let him in. He was early, as always, but Julie always showed up perfectly on time and perhaps he could meet her before he went inside instead of barging in early as he usually did.  
The chrome-and-glass door slid open with a whisper.  
"-Edward?" Julie. Edward turned quickly, and he nearly tripped over his own feet. But once he caught his breath and stood straight and took a proper look at her, it was his breath’s turn to catch in his throat and he must have been standing there like a complete idiot.  
Julie was beautiful. The lights in their lab were always flickering and she was pretty there, but in proper lighting (and wearing a gorgeous dress, Edward couldn't help but notice) she was absolutely breathtaking.  
“J-julie! Hello. Hi. You look- you look beautiful.” Of course she would show up looking perfect. Her hair was down in loose ringlets, nestled against the straps of her dress. “You curled it.”  
Julie looked mildly amused at his stuttering. “You brushed it. Come on in and meet some people.” 

The time was 7:00, and Edward was standing is the corner as he usually did during social functions. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy being around people (he didn’t), it was completely because he wanted to stay back and watch. Observation was what he did best, he was a scientist, after all. Julie was talking with somebody else in the middle of the tiled floor, the chiffon extensions of her dress brushing against her ankles. She’s wearing heels, he noticed, pretty two-inches. Could he spend all night staring at her? Probably. Would he? No, because one of his colleagues had sidled up to him.  
“Hey, Ed!”  
Edward regretfully turned to him. “Hello, Daniel.”  
Daniel pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, a little bit wrinkled but readable. “Hey, it’s just an idea- but, yeah, if you have time you should run a couple tests on it. It’s supposedly a good idea.” Finger quotes around ‘good idea’. Obviously it was something Gorman wanted a test run on, so Edward put the paper in his pocket with a long-suffering sigh.  
“Consider it done, Daniel. I’ll get to it tomorrow.”  
Daniel gave Edward a grateful look. “Thanks. Hey, you should go talk to your girlfriend! The techies and I are going to hit the bar after this and you two are welcome.”  
“She’s not my girlfriend!” Edward protested, but Daniel had slipped off into the crowd with a jaunty wave. He sighed and made his way across the floor until he was elbow-to-elbow with Julie. The man talking to her greeted him, and then went back to talking with Julie. It would be a bad idea to try and break up the conversation, so Edward crossed his arms and waited.  
The time was 8:00, and Edward’s feet were beginning to hurt. Julie was still talking with the man (who Edward now knew was the director of the Department of Innovation, their boss, that’s why she was talking to him for so long) about their latest project. It seemed strange, because Edward had only met the man one or two times. He must have been new, or moved across divisions. He certainly hoped he wasn’t one of Gorman’s pets, people that definitely did not belong and only got the job because of their many connections. Some of them were nice people, of course, but not cut out for management at all.  
Edward could have done better, and he was not a manager. Still, he did better when he could work on his own terms without someone breathing down his neck like their old manager had done.  
“Edward! I’m trying to introduce you!” Edward’s train of thought was derailed and he looked down to connect their eyes. With a hasty apology to the man facing them (now with a rather prominent frown, Edward noticed guiltily) Julie gave him a formal introduction.  
“Now, why don’t you go outside? You look stifled.” Then she laughed, and Edward knew that if they were in the lab she would have shaken her head like she always did when he had done something embarrassing or silly. He obligingly nodded and quietly walked off, casting a final look over his shoulder. She had returned to talking.

The time was 9:30, and Edward was sitting on his bed. His room wasn’t the mess it had been when he first arrived home earlier that day, when he was actually looking forwards to being able to go to the ball and not get brushed off by everyone as he usually was.  
Whatever, he thought to himself. The food sucked, the company sucked, and Julie had spent the entire night studiously ignoring him. He didn’t like company functions in the first place, they involved people. Edward didn’t like people. He wasn’t about to wallow in self-loathing, though, because the evening hadn’t been a complete bust. He’d learned about what his next project would be, and a new thing to shake up their usual schedule was a welcomed distraction.  
The phone rang. It was Julie. Edward didn’t bother picking up, falling onto his back into the covers. His answering machine beeped. “Hello, Edward! Daniel and the technicians invited me to go to the bar with them, and if you aren’t in bed by now you’re welcome to tag along!”  
Edward didn’t pick up the phone, but he did cast a glance towards his drawer. He was sure he had some casual clothes. After all, his floor had been positively littered with them earlier.


End file.
